Part 4 Sandfjord to Bodø

19/08/06 - Sandfjord to  Annamoen.
We were up early so as to not outstay our welcome. There was no sign of life in the house so we assumed that the couple were still asleep, well it was 8.00am and at home we wouldn’t have been up at that time on a Saturday morning! We left a postcard expressing our thanks and 100kr (which would have been our campsite fee) to cover the cost of the gas we had used. It was a bit overcast as we left and although there was little wind it was still a little chilly as we headed towards Sandfjord village. We stopped at a petrol station at Torvik and the lady kindly filled our water bottles. There was a steep climb out of Renså which was to be the first of several long climbs that day. At the top we got a good view of the mountainous terrain to come with the snow clad Nova Fjellet standing proud at 1281m in the distance. From there it was a good ride down to the Renså vatnet and over the river bridge at the bottom of the valley which marked the start of the next big hill climb! This one seemed to go on and on, and on and on, and on and on! At every bend you hoped to see the summit, but it just seemed to go on and on. At one point it got fairly steep and it reminded me of Moll’s gap in Ireland. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lady there to bless us on our way as there had been then. We were relieved to eventually find the top and stopped for a well earned rest. While we recovered I spotted some Cloudberries and Bilberries growing by the side of the road, so we stopped a little longer for a mini fruit feast.

The only consolation to hill climbs is that you know at some point you will get a good downhill ride and our drop down to the Grovfjorden was no exception and we were soon by the fjord shores whose waters were as still as a mill pond. At Astafjord we stopped to pick up supplies for our lunch and tea and headed of around the Saltvatnet to find a suitable place for lunch. As luck would have it we found a spot with a picnic table right next to the vatnet with the craggy sides of Revtind 1219m towering over us and a good view across the vatnet to the snow cap top of the Nova Fjellet. While were waiting for the water to boil for our tea I had a quick look at the map and could see that there was another steep climb to come at the end of the vatnet! Frank wasn’t too surprised as she had guessed from the terrain ahead. Boy, was it hard work after the other two earlier in the day our legs were getting kind of tired. I took a little movie of Frank as she came up the last bit and you can tell how much she enjoyed it from the sarcastic tone in her voice! From the top it was then a bit like one of those interval training routes, short up and downs which when you are tired are a pain in the saddle. Thankfully it didn't go on for long and we were soon by the shores of the Skoddeberg vatnet and the campsite at Annamo.

It looked a lovely site on the shores of the vatnet it had only one tent and loads of lovely green grass to camp on! The nice lady who booked us in was Swiss, which explained the Swiss flag at the entrance. She said that we could camp anywhere we liked, but that there was a nice spot down by the vatnet. It was indeed a lovely spot with great views of the mountains and it didn’t take us long to put the tent up and get ourselves organised. As we had arrived fairly early for us and that it was such a warm afternoon we took the opportunity to get every thing out and give it a good airing. In a little over 15 minutes we had the place looked like a bomb had hit it!
As it was such a nice site and the next day was Sunday, we decided that we deserved a rest day. In the evening we had one of our favourite meals Pfeffer steak with Frank's gorgeous pepper, mushroom, courgette and garlic sauce.

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20/08/06 - Rest day at Annamo.
We awoke early to an amazing cloud inversion over the vatnet. The mist was gently rising from the water and with the still air it gave for some amazing reflections of the mountains in the water. As the sun began to rise over the mountains behind us and fell on our tent it started to steam quietly in the sun light! We pottered over breakfast and later in the morning a gentle breeze blew across the vatnet. I took the opportunity to do a bit of kite flying with the little delta stunt kite, while Frank read a book and generally chilled. In the afternoon after doing some clothes washing I spent some time talking to the owner of the campsite in his log cabin that was his reception area. I learnt a considerable amount about the local fishing, hunting for elk and reindeer in the mountains and what it was like there in the winter. The weather was glorious and it was just pleasant to relax and chill. Our evening meal that night was a bit of a come down from the night before as we had to use one of our dehydrated emergency meals. The lovely evening sunset made up for it as we retired for the night.

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21/08/06 - Annamoen to Narvik
We had had such a lovely relaxing day yesterday as it was such a lovely place, if there had been a shop close by we might have been tempted into staying another day. However we did really need to get on if we were to get back to Bodø by the 28th. The weather that morning was fairly overcast and the first part of the route was through undulating pine and birch scrub which gave for a very pleasant ride with little traffic. However when we reached the main E10 we started to get more traffic. As we pressed on to Narvik we past through the Bakejord tunnel which was well lit and thankfully fairly short. The weather looked threatening with dark clouds as we stopped at Biervik to pick up supplies and we wondered if we were in for a wetting. We were fairly chilly and we were tempted into a couple of pieces of hot roast chicken from the supermarket. We found a picnic table on the fjord side and quickly ate them before they got cold.

As we pushed on towards Narvik the drivers were very much like the day to Lordigan, they all seemed to be in such a hurry. We started getting fed up with the inconsiderateness of their driving as they again overtook us in silly places. Although it doesn't faze us particularly, as we are use to riding in heavy traffic, it just gets a bit wearing after a while. The E10 then follows the shore of the Herjansfjorden until you get to Saegnes norde where it cuts inland to cut across a spit of land to bring you out on the side of the Rombakenfjord. Shortly after this you pass through the Leirvik tunnel which is again well lit and only 550m in length. By now you can see Narvik on the otherside of the fjord and you have to go to the head of the Rombakenfjord and cross the Rombaksbrua to come back down the southern shore. We were soon on the other side of the fjord and there was the in evitable last climb up to the campsite!

The Narvik site is on the side of a hill overlooking the fjord and the pitches are down the hill from the reception on small flat areas which are a little short on grass. The access road is fairly steep so we guess that it will be fun getting the loaded rigs up that hill in the morning. We quickly pitched the tent and hit the showers. Just after we had both come out of the shower and as we were chatting. A lady came out of the ladies showers and said it was nice to hear an English accent. She and her 80 yr old husband had come to Narvik as they were involved with a group that were writing the history of two Polish warships the ORP Grom (thunder) and the ORP Blyskawica (lightning) which were built at Cowes on the Isle of Wight where they were from. She told us all about the two ships history and their involvement in the battles for Narvik. In 1942 the ORP Grom was bombed and sunk in the Rombakenfjord by Luffwaffe bombers, and the Norwegians had built ‘Grom Place’ in Narvik in recognition of the Polish sailors that lost their lives.

Whilst having our evening meal in the campsite’s comfortable dining and kitchen area, we reviewed our route. Our original plan had to been to continue down the main coast to Bodø and on reflection most of the route would have been on the main E10 and there were several long tunnels on the route. We didn't fancy fighting with the traffic for all that way, so decided to catch the express ferry from Narvik to Solvaer the next day. It would get us back on to Lofoten and we could ride some of the routes that we hadn't done on the way up.

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22/08/06 - Narvik to Kabelvag.
It was indeed a little difficult to get the bikes up the steep hill at the campsite. It was far too steep to try and ride the full laden rigs up the hill, so we had to push them up together, leaving one at the top while we when down for the other. The campsite reception fortunately had a good street map of Narvik so we could plan our route around the sights. Our first stop of the morning was Narvik cemetery to see the graves of the fallen in the battles for Narvik. There were graves there of sailors from HMS Hunter, others from the land battles and sadly some graves just marked soldier or sailor of the second world war. We wondered on the next of kin who sadly wouldn't know their loved ones resting place. Our next stop was 'Grom' place, after our conversations with the lady from the Isle of Wight, we just had to go there. It was in the middle of a housing estate and there was an impressive bronze sculpture of a Polish sailor. Unfortunately the local kids had left a lot of litter and broken bottles about. We tidied it up and replaced the wreath that had been kicked on to the ground and hoped we had got there before the lady had!

Not far from this were the Narvik rock carvings, it took us a little while to find them as again they are in the middle of a housing estate! It was slightly disappointing as there was only 1 and not of such good quality as the ones we saw at Tanum in Sweden. It was then on to the centre of Narvik for a look around and some lunch. After lunch we visited the Red Cross war museum which if you are interested in WW2 history has some very informative exhibits of the battles for Narvik and life under occupation. One thing I found interesting and hadn’t previously heard about, was the railway to Kirkenes on the Russian border that the Germans had started building. Apparently Hitler wanted to extend the railway from Rognan to Kirkenes he called it the ‘Polar eisbahn’ and thousands of Russian, Polish and Yugoslav POWs were used as slave labour to build it. They were kept in appalling conditions and many died, those that survived the war and returned to Russia were accused by Stalin as collaborators of the Nazis and were sent to do hard labour in the Gulags. The railway was never finished, but apparently there are today numerous tunnels, cuttings and embankments that exist but go nowhere.  There is more information here.

At about 4.30pm we headed down to the docks to catch the express boat to Svolvaer. It wasn't that easy to find as there were no signs, I think we were expecting a much bigger boat. A small blue vessel was sitting next to the quay and a gang plank was being readied by a young lad, I asked him were the express ferry went from and he said it was his vessel and helped us get the bikes aboard. They were tied to the railings at the bows of the boat, reminiscent of the first time that we took the bikes on a ferry from Marken in Holland.

The boat soon seemed to fill up and we set off on time and as we left Narvik we got a good view of the iron ore harbour. It was this and the railway which were the main objectives of the battles for Narvik. The journey was certainly quite fast with the boat flying along at about 25 knots and we had great views of the islands and mountains as we sped along Ofotfjorden. At one point it was quite choppy and the young deck hand had to close the doors to prevent the spray from coming into the saloon. As we came into the lee off Lødigan and Hinøya island in the Vestfjorden, the sea was much calmer and almost glass smooth it was such a contrast. Having popped between the islands of Stormolla and Litlmolla we headed into Skrova for a very short stop to set off a couple of passengers before speeding back off in the direction of Svolvaer. We were soon tied up to the quay and off loaded our bikes, I was a little concerned about the amount of salt water spray they might have caught and made a mental note to give them a good wash down. The Hurtigruten coastal steamer Nordkapp had just docked further up the quay so we couldn’t resist having a look at her as we hoped to use the Hurtigruten to get back to Bodø. In didn't seem that long ago that we had been talking to Swiss Patrick as he waited for his Hurtigruten ferry!

We quickly found the Co-op supermarket and bought something for our evening meal and breakfast and headed back up the hill to Kabelvåg were we hoped to camp. As we cycled the sun was setting over the mountains and cast a lovely light on the clouds as they rolled over the tops. It didn’t take us long to get to the turning for the campsites and after a kilometre we had a choice of 2 right next to each other as they were so close we thought we would check them both out, the second one involved a short steep climb over a small hill typical! I’m glad we made the effort as it was a much better site with a lovely view of the Ørsvågen and loads of nice grass to camp on.

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23/08/06 - Kabelvag to Rolvsfjord.
We awoke to clear blue skies with just a few white puffy clouds about to give that nice contrast. It didn’t take us long to get breakfast out of the way and pack the tent. While Frank was in the loo I took the opportunity to give the bikes a good wash down to remove any salt water that might have sprayed over them from the ferry ride. Unfortunately when I went to pay the reception was closed and I searched around to find someone. I found a young lady cleaning the showers and asked her if she new where the lady from the reception was. She didn’t know but would phone her on her mobile, it turned out that the lady had had to go to Svolvaer urgently and that she would be back in 30mins. I tried to give the money to the cleaning lady so that we could get going but she wouldn’t have any of it and virtually run away! While we waited one of the kittens that had adopted the campsite kept us amused as she chased Frank’s fingers along a fence. Eventually the lady arrived and we were on our way and back on the E10.

It didn’t take us long to get through the Rorvikskardet tunnel and on to the turning to Henningsvær but this time we carried on along the E10 towards Lyngvaret. As we rode along in the sunshine it was a little different from the last time we cycled the road going the opposite way. Then it had been a battle against the strong wind and it was quite dull overcast weather. This time we got some lovely views across the Henningsvaerstraumen with the mountains of Vestvågøy in the distance. We stopped again at the picnic point just before the Gimsøystraumen brua. After a brew and a bite to eat we tackled the bridge, may be we were getting fitter but it didn’t seem so steep this time round. We pushed on round the south of Gimsøya island on the E10 and we were keen to get onto the quieter 815. As we crossed the Sundklakk straumen brua there were 2 lads fishing from the bridge. They had a good catch of 5 sea trout, if only I’d brought my rod that could have been our evening meal sorted, oh well we will remember next time! The 815 was certainly a quieter road and at Smorten I had only stopped to take a shot of the view across the fjord, when I spotted a sea eagle. It was just flying above the rocks on the shoreline and was being mocked by a couple of crows. It very quickly settled on the rocky hummock nearby. I quickly attached the teleconverter and quietly edged forward through the heather and scrub to get a closer view. Fortunately for us the Sea Eagle was being distracted by a crow, which had landed on the same rocky hummock and was cheekily taunting it by pecking at its tail feathers. I got reasonably close and managed to get in a couple of decent shots before it decided that it had enough of the crows and flew off.

Although we had been on Vestvågøy before it was a new road for us and with the wind behind us it was good cycling. Just after Moland we came across a large herd of goats, some of who were enjoying the afternoon sun chewing the cud sitting on the nearby rocks. We were hopeful that we would find a shop at Valberg but it was shut. We had missed it by an hour as it had just gone 5.00pm, another emergency meal loomed. It was a lovely afternoon as we cycled around the edge of the Rolvsfjorden and we could see the campsite at Rolvsfjord on the far shore. We reached the Brustranda campsite just before 6.00pm and Frank announced that we had hit the 600mile mark exactly as we entered the site. We quickly booked in and as the campsite had a café we ordered a couple of bottles of coke which consumed outside whilst chatting to the owner. He was a nice chap and contrary to some of the other campsite owners we had met he reckoned he had had a good season. Fortunately he had milk for sale, which after our drink of coke I managed to leave behind and had to go back later to collect! We took advantage of the campsite’s café for our evening meal. They didn’t have a wonderful choice it was either pizza or pizza, but it was certainly better than the dehydrated emergency meal we could have had. Actually it was good pizza with nice cool Arctic beer!

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24/08/06 - Rolvsfjord to  Bodø.
We woke to a bright sunny morning, but with a hint of mare’s tales and high cirrus forming.  This possibly meant a change in the weather, however it didn’t worry us too much as we were on the home stretch. We had a rather relaxed breakfast and took our time to pack the tent, as we knew we didn’t have that far to get to Stamsund. We set off from Brustranda camping and headed along the 815, it was flat easy cycling as it hugged the side of the Rolvsfjorden. We again got good views as we looked across the Henningsvaerstraumen to the mountains behind Henningsvaer. As we got to the head of the Skilfjorden and our turning down to Stamsund it had become slightly overcast and a little chilly. However it didn’t take that long to get to Stamsund and pass its harbour with the distinctive mustard coloured Youth Hostel on the quay front.

After a look around the fish harbour with it’s various fishing vessels and wooden boats we headed into the main part of the town. The Hurtigruten ferry didn’t leave till 21.45 so we had several hours to look around Stamsund, We had a long wander around the few shops and then went to have a look at the local museum. Outside it had a small field gun and a naval gun recovered from the harbour, it looked promising but unfortunately it was shut. We thought we had better eat something before getting on the ferry, so we hit the supermarket. For some inexplicable reason I fancied prawn and garlic noodles. It was a meal that Ulita, Frank’s sisters housekeeper had cooked for us when we had been in Indonesia. We tried to remember the recipe and hunted around the store for the various ingredients that we needed. With hopefully the correct ingredients we headed off to find a suitable place to cook up our feast and fortunately for us found a picnic bench with a good view over the ferry harbour and the Gåsøyflaget.

Frank started cooking the prawn and garlic noodles, while I got a brew on. I must admit they weren’t quite up to Ulita’s standard as we really needed some lemon grass, but they weren’t bad. Just after we had finished eating we heard the sound of a silver band tuning up and obviously practicing, we could see them on the ferry quay. A little later there was a loud whistle blast from a large vessel and we saw a Hurtigruten Coastal Steamer coming round behind the end of the buildings on the quay. It was quite a sight as it came around into the Gåsøyflaget! I leapt on the bike and whizzed around to the quay to watch it come in. It was in fact the MS Kong Harold and was being welcomed in by the local silver band. Just before they started playing again a forklift arrived with 3 pallets on it and placed them in front of the band. The band conductor jumped on to it and immediately started up the band! Obviously Health and Safety isn’t as rigorous on Lofoten or may be they had done their risk assessment on the 3 pallets! It was quite a sight as the MS Kong Harold turned and came into the quay with the band playing and people waving from the boat, I was just waiting for the ticker tape and it would have been like in the movies! I wondered who was on board that deserved this treatment and asked the lady from the Hurtigruten office. She said it was a visiting silver band from Oslo, they were performing in the town and at various venues in Lofoten. Apparently the local silver band thought it nice way to welcome them and it was obviously appreciated by the band from Oslo. After the Oslo band had disembarked and their luggage unloaded, the local silver matched off into town playing a medley of tunes, with the Oslo band walking behind.

After our tea Frank read for a bit and I wrote up the diary, before we heard the distinctive blast from the MS Polarlys as she came round into the Gåsøyflaget. She was on time and we quickly headed around to the quay. Unfortunately this time there was no band playing to see us off! We loaded the bikes on to the ferry via a large cargo door on the port side of the vessel, it contained a lift which took us up to the small car deck where we tied up the bikes to the side walls.

We spent the first hour on deck saying goodbye to the Lofoten Isles with a brilliant crimson and purple evening sky with a stunning sunset. I just kept saying to Frank hold that picture in your head as it was such a magical way to finish off our tour. The MS Polarlys is a very plush ship and having seen the Hurtigruten ferries so many times it was nice to finish the tour by travelling on one. I could quite understand the fascination in using the Hurtigruten coastal steamers to travel up the coast of Norway. Inside the carpets were quite interesting as they had the motifs of rock carvings woven into them. They were very similar to the ones that we had seen in Sweden on the Bousland coast at Tanum. We arrived in Bodø on time at 1.35am and due to a cloudy sky it was quite dark, which took us a little by surprise. It didn't take us long to get to the campsite and we pitched in the field to the north of the site, fortunately there were no other campers to disturb, although we were as quiet as we could.

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25/08/06 - Bodø.
We were rudely awoken at 7.30 by the first flight of the day out of Bodø. We hadn't slept that well as the ground was a bit bumpy, it had been a bit too dark to see what the ground was like when we had arrived, so we decided to move the tent. Due to our rather late night we had a rather lazy morning relaxing in the sunshine. In the afternoon we went shopping in Bodø to see if we could get another fleece top like the one Frank had bought in Stockmarknes, as she had been very pleased with it. Unfortunately we couldn’t get one, so we bought some food for our evening meal and returned to the campsite. There was a beautiful sunset that evening, so we spent some time on the on the Bodøsjøen friluftsmuseum which is right next to the campsite watching the sun setting.

26/08/06 - Bodø.

 As we had an extra day we decided to have a better look around Bodø itself. We cycled a different route into Bodo going via the Gamle Riksvei to have a look at the harbour. The Hurtigruten coastal steamer MS Nordkapp was moored up so we had a quick look at her. I think that is now 4 of the Hurtigruten fleet that we have seen so far, perhaps the Norwegians have a 'Eye Spy' book of Hurtigruten ferries! Bodø has natural harbour, as Burøya is a spit of land that juts out between Bodø and the island of Lille Hjertøy. At its far end there is Nyholmen an old 18th century fort, which had been recently renovated. From the ramparts with their canons we watched an air sea rescue demonstration-taking place in the harbour. On our way back we had a look around the fish docks. There where some impressive large trawlers there as well as the traditional Norwegian fishing boats. As we got round to the south side of the harbour the Hurtigruten MS Nordkapp was just leaving, so we watched her leave. It brought back memories of our lovely sunset journey back from Lofoten. As we past the Police station there was a VW beetle Police car parked outside, apparently it is the star of a Norwegian children's TV programme. Back at the campsite we chatted to the Dutch couple about their trip on Lofoten. They had been backpacking into the wilder areas of Lofoten and had visited some remote and beautiful spots. They had left supplies at the campsite while they were on Lofoten and were then re-stocking for a trip to the mountains south of Bodø.

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27/08/06 - Bodø.
We woke to a wonderful cloud inversion over the Saltforden, which gave for some lovely photos. After a lazy morning chatting to the Dutch couple and the party of Germans, who like us were waiting to fly home tomorrow. We had a late lunch to finish up all the bits of food we had left over and then packed up the tent. We gave the Dutch couple the last of our petrol, as we couldn't take it with us on the plane and they could use it as they were off on another trip the next day. We had done quite well with the gas, as we had only just started to use the last small cylinder that the English guy had given us at Å. We left this in the kitchen at the campsite. There were others there, as obviously others were flying back as well, so remember if you use the campsite at Bodø, check out the kitchen before buying any gas.

We left the campsite about 5,00pm and headed for the hotel. As we cycled along we reflected on the fact that if we had thought about it we could have left the bike bags at the campsite like one of the German lads had done. It would have saved us two lots of hotel fees, but then again if it had been naff weather it wouldn’t have been so easy to disassemble the bikes and anyway we would be getting a comfy bed, a nice clean shower and fluffy clean towels!!!! Well after 31 nights under canvas we deserved a bit of luxury!

 After packing the bikes and our luggage we went for a walk around the yacht harbour. To our amazement we spotted an Otter searching along the rocks on the seaward side of the harbour wall. We followed it along and had some excellent close views of it as it surface right below us and looked straight at us. Unfortunately I didn't have my X2 tele-converter with me to get any close up shots.

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28/08/06 - Flight Home .
We had arranged for the same taxi firm to pick us up from the hotel at 9.00am to take us to the airport. At 9.05 I was getting a little panicky as to whether he had understood me. At 9.07 it arrived to our relief and in 10mins we were at the airport. Just after booking in we met the German group who had been at the campsite and they were on the same flight to Oslo. Apparently they had been up late playing cards in the campsite hut last night and as they walked back to their tents at 11.30pm they saw the Northern lights for about 15mins. Lucky things, I had looked out nearly every night hoping I might see the Northern lights and the one night we had decided on a early night, there they are!  Oh well you can't have it all ways.

 Our 10.35am flight on the Norwegian.no Boeing 737-300 series LN-KKU from Bodø to Oslo went without a hitch. We got some great views of the mountains and glaciers as we flew south and we arrived at Oslo Gardermoen airport on time at12:05.

Unfortunately our flight to Stansted wasn’t until 18.25 so we had nearly 6 hours to kill. If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had already visited Oslo a couple of years ago we may have made the effort to leave the airport although Gardermoen is about 35km from Oslo centre so by the time we had got there it wouldn’t have given us much time to look around.  We did manage to fill the time reasonably well, buy reading, writing up this diary and spending quite a bit of time in the pizza restaurant. They had a good deal, for a fixed fee you could eat as much pizza as you liked. Breakfast seemed a long time ago and I definitely know we got our monies worth!

Our flight to Stansted again went without a hitch and as we came into our approach for Stansted we came over the Deben and Orwell estuaries and right over the top of Ipswich. You could quite easily recognise the Orwell bridge and the A14. On leaving the plane at Stansted I noticed that the plane Norwegian.no Boeing 737-300 series LN-KKF was called after a hero of mine Fridjof Nansen the artic explorer and there was a photo of him on the tail plane. On retrieval of our luggage we found that some of the bags had been chewed a bit by the wonderful luggage carousels at Stansted, but luckily this time there was no damage done to the bikes! On clearing customs our taxi driver was waitng at arrivals and we were soon heading up the M11 for home, reflecting on what a superb tour we had had. All in all, with the wonderful weather, superb scenery a fantastic bird and whale trips it was probably the best so far!

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The End